Monthly Book Pick: Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue

“I don't know if I can continue suffering like this just because I want to live in America.”

During these stressful times, I find it very helpful to have a towering stack of books on my bedside table that I can pick apart piece by piece. Each floor of the tower is a new place I can escape to. The stack has grown so large that, to be honest, I think it’s more likely that I die from a book avalanche in the middle of the night than from COVID-19.

This pick is one of my all-time favorites that I plucked out from a dusty library shelf (those are often the best finds) a few years ago and have been eagerly waiting to share.

Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue is a story that will remind you of the beauty of the world that is hard to recall during this crisis. Hailing from Cameroon, Jende Jonga immigrated to America searching for a better life for his six-year-old son, his wife, Neni, and himself. When he finds a place in Harlem and lands a job as a chauffeur for the Edwards family, it appears that everything has fallen into place and Jende and Neni can almost grasp the American dream on the horizon that they’d longed for. But it doesn’t last long. As Jende begins to notice the secrets the Edwards have concealed behind the thin exterior built up by power and privilege, the economy collapses. Everyone’s lives are suddenly upended, and no reader will be able to predict the book’s ending. 

Readers will keep turning the pages for characters that harbor real problems and demand compassion. Mbue takes no shortcuts, crafting a storyline that ends heart-wrenchingly but appropriately, depicting a realistic and true American narrative.